In the oil and gas producing industries, it typically is required to transport product from a production site to an end use or refinement site. In providing for such transmission, typically, a right-of-way is acquired between sites, a trench is formed along such right-of-way, pipeline segments are positioned in end-to-end relation along such trench and welded together, and then the trench is filled to cover a completed pipeline. In positioning such pipeline segments in a trench and welding them together, various support structures are used to facilitate the welding operation. Typically, wooden beams are used which often are stored at facilities distant from intended pipeline routes, transported through the use of vehicle from such facilities to drop-off locations along a pipeline trench, transported to spaced locations along such trench and then lowered into the trench for positioning an end portion of a pipeline segment to be welded to an aligned segment. Although various mechanical machines and devices are used to haul such beams, they often are transported manually which often is burdensome in view of their considerable weight. Upon completion of each welding routine, such wooden beams are required to be removed from their support sites and moved to sequential support sites, which is done manually. Upon completion of a pipeline burial operation, such support beams, to the extent they continue to be serviceable, are returned to a distant storage site for future usage, requiring additional mechanical and manual handling.
In view of the foregoing, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a means which is sufficiently sturdy to support a portion of a heavy pipeline segment, lightweight to facilitate mechanical and manual transporting from a remote storage site to a pipeline trench site and of a construction conducive to suitable disposal following such use.